Tag Archives: Whole Milk

I hadn’t cooked in over a week and a half and I was feigning like a heroin addict looking for his next fix. It was 8:00 a.m. and I was desperate. I didn’t have much in the refrigerator or pantry that would satisfy my need, my craving. I almost grabbed my keys and headed to the grocery store for a quick fix. I didn’t even know what I wanted to make, nonetheless what to eat. So I dug around the refrigerator some more hoping to find something, and there it was. Light emanating from a box in the back of the refrigerator, just like in the movies, only it’s not butter. And it clicked… ghee. I felt inspired. Indian food. Something that I had been wanting to make for so long, but was too intimidated. Especially after my several failed attempts at making Thai food. I knew that ghee was the perfect place to start. It would also serve as a sign. If I successfully made ghee, then I was going to set out to make Indian food that day. If I failed, well, then I wasn’t destined to make Indian food.

Bring butter to a boil in a heavy saucepan over medium low heat. [Make sure it’s not boiling violently because you’ll burn the butter.] The butter will begin to foam. Move some of the foam aside with a spoon to see the bottom layer. The butter should become transparent in the middle layer, while the top layer is foamy and the bottom layer has protein curds that have settled. The butter will be bubbling and make a snapple, crackle, pop noise. [It was music to my ears.]

After about twenty minutes, the foam will thin out and the noise will subside. Pay close attention from this point on because it can go from a nutty aroma so fragrant to a burnt butter smell very quickly.

The milk solids on the bottom of the pan will begin to brown, and the middle layer will turn a deep golden to amber gold. The top layer will also begin to brown. Remove the saucepan from the heat when the milk solids have turned a deep reddish brown. Pour the clarified butter into a coffee filter-lined container to to strain out solids. [Don’t use a cheesecloth. I did and ended up having to restrain it because there were micro solids floating around.]

Store in an airtight container, refrigerated for up to 3 to 6 months.

You’ll find many uses with ghee… you’ll want to dip everything into it. Even apples. Okay, maybe not apples. But you get the point :)

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